like some other States endowed with natural resources; illegal and unscientific exploitation of the same resources and that too in an ‘organised manner’ is happening in Uttarakhand with active connivance from the power that be, alleged the State BJP leaders. This is a matter of serious concern, they said.
Noteworthy is that the then Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Vijay Bahuguna had set up a special task force (STF) especially to check illegal mining and with the help of the agency, the hill State administration managed to rein in the illegal mining mafia to a great extent.
However, with certain political developments in the State, resulting in the change of guard early this year, things seem to be losing the earlier momentum, leading to unabated continuation of the illegal mining, as environmentalist here maintain.
More so, as the leaders of Opposition parties and social activists here maintain, the honest officials who are trying to curb the illegal mining are being punished by way of their transfers. Transfer of SSP Haridwar has strengthened such impression, they maintain. It may be recalled that on similar ground earlier, the STF chief was also removed by the Government, as the social activists say.
Expressing concern over the alleged ‘illegal mining’ going on unabated in many parts of the State, Anil Baluni, BJP’s national spokesperson, alleged while talking to The Pioneer that the menace keeps continuing in an ‘organised manner in many parts of the State, particularly in Hardiwar, Dehradun, Dabka river belt in
Ramnagar, to name a few places.But the State Government has failed to curb the same, he added. If the State Government fails to curb illegal mining we would take up the matter with the Government of India and urge it to intervene to stop our resources from being drained thus, asserted Baluni.
The honest officials who are coming in the way of illegal mining in the State are being removed, while officials with tainted images are being assigned plum posts in the Government, he further said.
We are of the view that exploitation of the natural resources should be done in a scientific manner so that the ecosystem could be saved while carrying out the developmental activities, he maintained.